Offshore wind operational report January – December 2015

1. Introduction

3

2. Offshore wind farm status

4

3. Assets

6

30%

The offshore wind fleet generated over 17.4 TWh last year, an increase of 30% over the 2014 figures

1

Introduction

4. Performance through the year 8 5. Performance trends

11

6. Investment

14

7. Ownership

15

8. Knowledge

16

Offshore wind in the UK continues to impress in terms of growth and performance. On a trajectory to reach an installed capacity of around 10 GW by 2020, there is already 5.1 GW of fully operational capacity, which in 2015 contributed over 5% to the UK’s electricity requirements.

This was enough to supply the electricity requirements of 4.2 million homes, over 16% of UK households

5.3% Offshore wind supplied 5.3% of UK electricity during 2015 with a new record high of 7.3% in the month of December

CO2 This performance reduced the UK’s C02 emissions by 7.4 million tonnes

Another 9 projects with a combined capacity of 4.5 GW are in the construction phase with completion dates ranging between 2016 and 2020. This new development accounts for an estimated investment of around £18 billion from a wide range of international investors, demonstrating the UK as one of the world’s leading destinations for the technology. The sector had a record-breaking year in 2015, with output boosted by particularly strong winds during November and December. An average load factor of 41.8% for the year is the highest recorded across the fleet and an increase of nearly 10% over 2014. Long term success is dependent on continued progress being made in reducing the levelised (whole life) cost of offshore wind energy to below £100 per MWh for projects reaching final investment decision (FID) by 2020. This is demonstrably achievable, with the cost reduction monitoring framework report published by ORE Catapult in March 2016 confirming that the UK offshore wind industry has already made significant progress towards this goal and remains on a trajectory to meet or even exceed it. This year’s report, produced in association with the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, provides clear evidence of a rapidly maturing sector capable of securely and reliably making a material contribution to the UK’s electricity generation, with a low environmental and carbon footprint.

Huub den Rooijen Director of Energy, Minerals and Infrastructure The Crown Estate

Figure 1: UK electricity generation mix 2015

Gas 30.3% Coal 23.1% Nuclear 21.3% Bioenergy 8.8% Onshore wind 7.0% Offshore wind 5.3% Solar 2.3% Hydro 1.9%

Source: DECC energy trends 2016

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2

Offshore wind farm status

>10% All wind now accounts for more than 10% of UK electricity requirements.

Offshore wind farm status Figure 2: UK Operational and near term projects – April 2016 With 29 operational wind farms in UK waters contributing over 5GW of power there are also 9 projects in the construction phase which will account for another 4.5GW when complete (figures 2 and 3). Based in the irish sea, southern north sea and off the south coast these newer additions to the fleet will generate almost as much electricity as the existing assets – tangible evidence of the substantial growth of the industry. Total wind powered generation topped 10% of UK electricity generation in 2015, and when taken together with all other forms of renewable generation outstripped either nuclear or coal fired power generation for the first time. (figure 4)

Figure 4: UK electricity generation by fuel type 2015 100

Plant output (TWh)

80

60

40

20

Hydro

Solar

Offshore wind

Onshore wind

Bioenergy

Nuclear

Coal

Gas

0

Operational: Total capacity of wind farms that have been fully commissioned.

Under construction: Total capacity of wind farms that are under construction or where the developer has confirmed a final investment decision, but are not yet fully operational.

Capacity MW q 01 Barrow 90 02 Blyth 3.8 03 Burbo Bank 90 04 Greater Gabbard 504 05 Gunfleet Sands 12 Demonstration 06 Gunfleet Sands I 108 07 Gunfleet Sands II 64.8 08 Gwynt y Môr 576 09 Humber Gateway 219 10 Inner Dowsing 97.2 11 Kentish Flats 90 12 Kentish Flats extension 49.5 13 Lincs 270 14 London Array 630 15 Lynn 97.2 16 Levenmouth 7 Demonstration Turbine 17 North Hoyle 60 18 Ormonde 150 19 Rhyl Flats 90 20 Robin Rigg East 90 21 Robin Rigg West 90 22 Scroby Sands 60 23 Sheringham Shoal 316.8 24 Teesside 62.1 25 Thanet 300 26 Walney (Phase 1) 183.6 27 Walney (Phase 2) 183.6 28 Westermost Rough 210 29 West of Duddon Sands 389 Total 5,093.6

1. RO feasible based on published grid connection dates as per TEC register – Mar 2016.

NOTE: CFDs are private law contracts between CFD generators and the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), a government-owned company that manages CFDs at arms’ length from the government.

Quoted capacity refers to the property rights held with The Crown Estate and does not necessarily reflect the build out capacities permissible under current or future statutory planning permissions.

Figure 3: UK offshore wind project locations

  Territorial Waters Limit   UK Continental Shelf   United Kingdom   Republic of Ireland

Up to capacity MW q Burbo Bank extension 258 Dudgeon 402 East Anglia ONE 714 336 Galloper1 Hornsea project 1 1,200 Hywind 2 Demonstration 30 (Buchan Deep) 546 36 Race Bank1 37 Rampion1 (Southern Array) 400 38 Walney extension 660 Total 4,546

40

30 31 32 33 34 35

Government support on offer: Total capacity of wind farms that have secured a Contract for Difference or whose publicly stated timescales are consistent with accessing the Renewables Obligation (RO). Up to capacity MW q 39 Aberdeen Demonstration 66 40 Beatrice 664 41 Blyth Demonstration 99 42 Neart na Gaoithe (NNG) 448 Total 1,211

35 39

42 16

41 02

20

24

21 27 18 38 29 08

26 01 03

19 17 30

34

28 09

36 31

13 10 15

23

22 32

06 05 12

07 04

33 14

11

25

37

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≈ 50% The UKs offshore fleet operates around half of all offshore wind turbines installed worldwide.

Assets

Assets

Health and safety Figure 5: UK offshore wind assets – 31 December 2015

Operating Under construction Total

Offshore turbines q 1,463 831 2,294

At the end of December 2015 the UK seabed had 1463 operational offshore wind turbines, 20 offshore substations and 56 export cables. Whilst the growth in annual installed capacity has slowed in the last two years the pace is picking up again and the confirmed pipeline of projects entering construction will see capacity almost doubled by 2020. With strong competition over the period for capital being seen in Germany, Netherlands and Denmark in particular, the UK still remains one of the top destinations for offshore wind farm development. 2015 also saw the worlds first floating wind array pass its FID and enter the construction phase for a project of the Scottish east coast and significant progress was made on demonstration sites at both Aberdeen Bay and Blyth demonstration. This together with early technology adoption on some commercial sites will see next generation machines (7-8 MW turbines) deployed in UK waters contributing to further cost reductions to meet 2020 targets.

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Offshore substations q 20 14 34

Export cables q 56 26 82

Offshore Masts q 25 1 26

Wind farms q 29 9 38

Figure 6: Pre-operational asset activity 2015 Windfarms completed

Windfarm starting construction (lease signature)

Windfarms having achieved FID

Gwynt-Y-Môr Humber Gateway Kentish Flats Extension Westermost Rough

Galloper Race Bank Rampion Burbo Bank Extension Dudgeon

Galloper Race Bank Rampion Hywind Walney Extension

Figure 7: Key health and safety performance facts and figures 2015 Key facts 790 reported incidents 0 fatalities 28 total lost work day incidents 2 incidents reported under RIDDOR1 604 incidents occurred on operational sites 179 incidents occurred on project sites 6 incidents occurred on development sites Work process 157 incidents during marine operations2 70 lifting operations incidents 62 incidents occurred when operating plant and machinery Incident area 303 incidents occurred onshore 294 incidents occurred in the turbine region 150 incidents occurred on vessels

Building, operating and maintaining power plants offshore, requires a constant focus on the health and safety of workers in the challenging conditions often encountered. Recognizing this, the worlds’ largest offshore wind developers formed the G9 Offshore Wind Health and Safety Association to deliver world class health and safety performance across all of their activities. Since the creation of the G9 reporting system, members have been providing HSE information and statistics for analysis and in order to share lessons learned. Figure 7 provides a summary of the incident data reports collected throughout 2015 by the G9. In general comparison with 2014 data there has been a reduction in all of the reported occurrences. With an ever increasing number of turbines and infrastructure to service, the safety and well-being of maintenance crews on transfer vessels is a key issue to manage. With reported incidences on vessels dropping from 243 in 2014 to 150 in 2015 there is room for improvement. The 2016 RUK Health and Safety award improves one of the more hazardous stages of transfer, stepping on and off the vessel and onto the turbine (see insert). Improvements like this will enable industry to achieve Lost Time Injury Frequency rates that match or better the levels seen in other offshore sectors such as oil and gas.

2015 incident severity summary Hazards 398 Near hits 262 First aid cases 55 Medical treatment injuries 31 Restricted work day incident 16 Lost work day incidents 28

1O  ne incident reported under DO where there was the potential to cause personal injury. 2M  arine operations comprise the following work processes: maritime operations, transfer by vessel, transit (vessel), vessel operations, vessel mobilisation. Source: G9 Offshore Wind Health and Safety Association Annual Report 2015

For more details of G9 reporting go to: https://www.g9offshorewind.com/work-programme/hse-statistics

RUKs health and safety award winner: WindCat wind grip system

To improve the safety of offshore transfers and to increase the accessibility of wind turbines, Windcat Workboats has developed the Windgrip System (Patent Pending). By using constant tension winches, a smart control system and specially designed straps, the grip on the turbine’s boat landing is increased. This improves the safety of a transfer and also stops the vessel dropping away suddenly in extreme sea conditions. The tension can be adjusted to remove the need for the vessel to have its engines engaged, therefore reducing fuel burn and emissions. The Windgrip system is now fitted to 12 vessels and was awarded the Crown Estate/UK Renewables Health and Safety Award 2016.

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Electricity supplied

2.47TWh

2.16TWh

4

Performance through the year

DECEMBER 2015 The highest ever monthly generation by UK offshore wind was 2.47TWh – 14% higher than the previous record of 2.16TWh set just the month before, November 2015.

Wind profile Figure 9: Energy deviation due to availability and wind speed

18%

39%

18%

16%

5%

10%

14%

0% -10%

-6%

-20%

Dec 15

Nov 15

Oct 15

Sep 15

-27% Aug 15

Jul 15

Jun 15

May 15

Apr 15

Overall average for the year +9% Mar 15

-40%

Feb 15

-30%

-10% -16%

Figure 10: East and West coast monthly capacity factors 80 East

West

70 60 50 40 30

Dec 15

Nov 15

Oct 15

Sep 15

Aug 15

Jul 15

Jun 15

May 15

Apr 15

Mar 15

20 Feb 15

“These figures show the contribution we are making to the country’s energy supply as well as the UK’s renewable energy targets.

The wind climate around and over the UK is complex and driven by various air masses from the south west (atlantic maritime), the north (polar) and the north east (continental polar and south east tropical). As a consequence, global climate fluctuations can materially affect these air masses and the interactions between them. By capturing wind resource around the coast (as well as from onshore wind farms) generation profiles can be smoothed out reducing the variability caused by swings in wind speed as weather fronts pass over the UK – refer figure 10. This smoothing effect is good for grid management as large swings in wind generated power on the transmission system is reduced, requiring less, more expensive, balancing power to be utilised.

13%

20%

Jan 15

 ondon Array 2.49 L Greater Gabbard 2.00 West of Duddon Sands 1.50 Gwynt y Môr 1.48 Sheringham Shoal 1.17 Lincs 1.04 Thanet 0.93 Walney 2 0.72 Walney 1 0.69 Westermost Rough 0.59 Other 4.86

27%

30%

Jan 15

Figure 8: Offshore generation by asset TWh)

40% Portfolio energy deviation

London Array top the leader board again last year supplying 2.49 TWh, the highest ever single year production from an offshore wind farm farm, also achieving the highest recorded monthly load factor of 78% in December.

There was significant monthly variance in windiness during 2015 in comparison with the long term average. For most of the year (8 months) monthly windiness was higher than average with only 4 months below average. In the highest wind month (December) the strong winds and fleet availability produced generation figures 39% higher than the long term average for that month. Consequently the year’s average energy production from the fleet was 9% above the long term value from a combination of improved reliability and higher wind speeds

Capacity factor %

Five offshore wind farms accounted for approximately half of all offshore generation in 2015 reflecting the impact of the larger capacity projects entering operation over the last few years. The next five supplied just under a quarter of the total leaving the remaining 18 to supply the balance.

We have pushed very hard to build on our earlier successes and develop our approach to turbine maintenance and repair. Together with our contractors we have focused on operational efficiency and expanding the amount of time our technicians are able to work offshore. This helped keep turbine availability above 98 per cent over the winter.” Jonathan Duffy General Manager of London Array

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41.8% The average capacity factor of all the UKs offshore wind farms was 41.8% in 2015 – a new record.

Performance trends

Capacity (load) factor Figure 11: Average fleet wide capacity factor 2015

42

41.8% weighted by wind farm capacity

40

39.8% mean value

38 Note: Numbers are provided for assets with full year figures, sub 10MW projects are not included and figures are for actual performance (ie windiness included)

36 34 32

The steady increase in capacity factor is approaching the load factor for other conventional forms of electricity generation and is a major influence in driving down the levellised cost of energy (LCoE) of offshore wind – refer to figure 12.

30

Fully operational windfarm

Sources: Aurora EOS, DECC energy trends 2016

Transmission performance Figure 13: Transmission System availability levels to August 2015

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100% 95% 90% 85% 80%

The UK’s offshore fleet has been continually improving its overall performance and since 2011 has been consistently high, with an average wind farm performing to within 5% of design expectations (refer figure 14). By comparing design production values for each offshore asset against operators’ actual performance each year an assessment of reliability and availability improvements can be made (figure 14). With windiness effects stripped out of the results, it can be seen that individual asset performance has gradually converged towards best practice levels in excess of 95%, demonstrating the impact of improved operations over time as learning effects and efficiencies become established.

75% GyM

Thanet

Greater Gabbard

London Array

Sheringham

Walney 2

Walney 1

Lincs

Ormonde

Barrow

70% Gunfleet Sands

Note figure 13: Figures are for transmission connected assets and do not include Distribution Network Operator connected assets

Total availability Included in availability incentive when exceptional events granted

Robin Rigg

Figures for transmission performance are available up to August 2015 indicating an overall performance of 99.6% across all offshore transmission owner (OFTO) assets (figure 13). Whilst performance in the early part of the year was consistent with the previous year there were a number of significant outages towards the end of 2015 within the portfolio that will impact full year figures. Full year results are published in October each subsequent year in the National Electricity Transmission System Performance Report from National Grid.

Figure 14: Fleet reliability analysis 2015

This substantial shift towards operational maturity is expected to continue, especially as the impact of the SPARTA initiative kicks in fully, and consequently the range of results in future years will narrow further, with below optimum early-life performance being minimised.

120

110

Actual/design production (%)

OCGT

Oil

Pumped Storage

CCGT

Wind (Onshore)

Hydro

Wind (Offshore)

Coal

Continual improvement Gas CHP-CCGT

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Biomass

Load factor (%)

Figure 12: Load factors for generation types

Nuclear

The spread of results in figure 11 indicate the impact of the higher capacity factors from the larger, more recent windfarms that generally benefit from windier sites, bigger turbines and larger swept rotor areas.

44 Capacity factor (%)

The performance of the fleet improved again in 2015 with the fleet wide average yearly capacity factor increasing by 1% over 2014 results to 39% having made an adjustment to take account of windiness during the course of the year.

46

100

90

80

70

60

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2012

2013

2014

2015

Year

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7,800+

LOADING...

Over 7,800 data points were uploaded to the SPARTA system in 2015.

Operations and maintenance: SPARTA

Operations and maintenance: Case study programme Figure 15: SPARTA data coverage

Number of farms Number of turbines Installed capacity As a proportion of capacity in UK waters

q January 2015 10 offshore wind farms 594 wind turbines 2.07 GW 51 %

q December 2015 17 offshore wind farms 924 wind turbines 3.15 GW 63 %

2015 saw the development of a new production based availability (PBA) metric based on the IEC 61400-26/2 standard, adding to the time based availability (TiBA) measure already in use. To further increase confidence in the data provided by SPARTA participants to SPARTA, 2015 included the development of an additional assurance processes linked to PBA and repair related metrics. From July 2016, all participants will undergo an independent review of how repair related metrics are produced. The review will be used to both highlight best practice and provide a confidence factor associated with each related metric. 2015 SPARTA sector data was able to demonstrate the linkages between wind farm accessibility and TiBA (see figure 16) – for example 12 |  Offshore wind – operational report

104

140

102

120

100

100

98

80 96

60

94

40

Dec 15

Nov 15

Oct 15

Sep 15

Aug 15

Jul 15

Jun 15

May 15

90

Apr 15

0

Mar 15

92

Feb 15

20 Jan 15

While the continued growth of the data set is encouraging, continuous improvement in the value and quality of the data set has also been a feature of 2015. SPARTA participants have also been active in the development of new, improved measures, and implementing them across their fleets.

160

Mean Significant Wave Height (Monthly value as a percentage of 2015 annual mean)

Number of Vessel Crew Transfers (Monthly value as a percentage of 2015 annual mean)

Mean Hub Height Wind Speed (Monthly value as a percentage of 2015 annual mean)

Normalised Wind Farm Time Based Availability Trend

improved accessibility and number of repairs have a positive impact on availability, whereas weather down time has a negative impact. The SPARTA Steering Group is to consider publishing an annual report in order to provide non-participants with an insight into the findings now being delivered. The growth to date has stimulated interest from other EU offshore wind developments and national industry bodies; looking forward SPARTA is well positioned to grow further with the inclusion of offshore wind farms outwith UK waters.

Normalised Wind Farm Availability Trend

The SPARTA (System Performance, Availability and Reliability Trend Analysis) platform, initiated by The Crown Estate and DnVGL in 2013, ran an initial pilot phase in 2014, and progressed to to full enduring operation in 2015. The first year of full operation of SPARTA by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult on behalf of the project partners saw continuing growth of the service, a range of system developments and improved data quality assurance. This has provided participating owner operators with a deeper insight into wind farm performance, availability and reliability measures against their peers. (figure 15)

Meteorological and logistics: Monthly value as a Percentage of annual mean

Figure 16: Impact of meteorological conditions and logistics on availability

During 2015 the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has developed a series of best practice case studies in collaboration with industry partners. The proposal originated from the ORE Catapults O&M Forum at which senior industry representatives unanimously agreed that a mechanism for the effective sharing and documentation of knowledge and lessons learnt would be of significant value to the wider operational community and would support continuous improvement, increased efficiency and longer term cost reductions. The programme was sponsored by The Crown Estate and the Offshore Wind Programme Board. The case study topics were proposed by the participants and were used to show-case best practice and highlight common issues and experiences from across the sector. The case studies draw on the operational experience and highlight the key learning outcomes and recommendations to others arising from each topic. Eleven case studies have been developed covering all aspects of operational management. Two examples of case studies produced by the programme are highlighted in the accompanying boxes.

Case study 1: Early Fault Detection Using SCADA Data Originator: Uniper (formally E.ON Technologies) Topic: How to make intelligent use of SCADA data to provide early warnings of potential wind farm failures. It examines SpheriCAL, software developed by Uniper, and presents results from the field. Key Recommendations: • Access to data is critical – investing in the data historian at Robin Rigg was a primary factor in the successful trial of SpheriCAL • Operators should ensure access to data is considered in the project design phase and in turbine supply and service/warranty contracts. • Site-based buy-in to condition monitoring tools is vital: it is critical that alarms and other information provided are credible, false alarms are minimised and engineering feedback is provided to further improve the tool. • Condition monitoring tools must be pragmatic, given the range of users that will be interacting with the tool and the business decisions influenced by the information generated.

Case study 2: RWE Vessel Performance and Helicopter Benefit Assessment Originator: RWE Topic: Development of a method to assess the capability of current crew transfer vessels and additional benefits that helicopters could provide.

Full details for all the case studies are publically available as an open access resource via the ORE Catapult website; ore.catapult.org.uk The case studies have been presented by the participant organisations at a series of workshops. These workshops have stimulated lively and productive debate amongst operators which has further enhanced the knowledge sharing and has highlighted further topics for consideration in the continuation of the case studies programme.

Key Recommendations: • Using actual site data, it was concluded that the use of helicopters at the site offered no commercial benefit to the windfarm owner in terms of gaining additional access. • Crew transfer vessels can safely transfer teams in sea states with significant wave heights (Hs) up to 1.8m. • The development and application of an access optimisation methodology has enabled several key areas, including future performance improvements, improved confidence in setting guidance, the evaluation of key health and safety considerations and an improved approach to evaluating engineering risks.

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Investment

Investment

Ownership

Owner/Operators Figure 17: Principal offshore wind transactions in 2015 q Capacity (MW) q Owner(s)

q New investor(s)

q Stake q Value 50% 75%

N/A £1,500m

E.ON E.ON, GIB SMartWind, DONG SMartWind

Statkraft GIB, Siemens Financial Services, Macquarie Capital GIB Enbridge Inc. DONG (move to 100% ownership) DONG

25% 24.9% 66% 100%

£236m £73.5m N/A N/A

Vattenfall Samsung GIB, Statkraft Statoil

AMF ORE Catapult GIB Offshore Wind Fund

49% 100% 20%

£237m N/A N/A

RWE, Stadtwerke Muenchen, Siemens, GIB DONG Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty Investments Ltd, Equitix Ltd Macquarie, 3i, Frontier Power Equitix Ltd

– – 33%

£352m £269m £25.5m

Development and under-construction Triton Knoll 1,200 RWE Galloper 336 SSE, RWE Rampion Rampion Hornsea Project 1 Hornsea Zone

400 400 1,200 2,800

Operational windfarms Ormonde 150 Fife demonstrator 7 Sheringham Shoal 316.8 Transmission assets Gwynt y Môr West of Duddon Sands Greater Gabbard OFTO

A number of development projects brought in new investors as they geared up for construction activities and sought capital to support their own balance sheet financing of projects. On-going rationalisation of the remaining projects within the original round three zones also saw DONG energy take full ownership of all four projects configured out of the Hornsea zone and in February 2016 they announced FID on Project 1 Operational assets saw a couple of refinancing transactions as the owners looked to sell down to fund further growth. The exit of Samsung from the sector saw their 7 MW prototype turbine at Methil sold to the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult for R&D purposes.

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On the transmission side two owners sold their export infrastructure as required by OFGEM for a combined final transfer value of £621m whilst the Greater Gabbard OFTO restructured with Equitix taking Balfour Beattys’ equity stake in the asset for just over £25m. The dealings in the pre-construction phase and some refinancing of operational assets is a healthy sign of commitment to build out those projects that have been successful in securing government support in the form of ROCs or CFD agreements by 2020.

Over the last few years there has been a steady migration of project ownership away from the traditional big six players to both other (often state owned) energy companies and through refinancing deals to infrastructure fund and institutional investors such as the Marubeni Corporation. Investment in operational assets has given many of these new entrants the knowledge and experience to now offer finance into the construction phase (refer figure 18), helping to reduce the cost of capital. This compares favourably to virtually no involvement 3 or 4 years ago.

Operational

5,000

Under construction

1,830

4,000 MW

q Site name

Figure 18: Asset Portfolio – Owner Operator categories

3,000 2,000 1,000

However as can be seen in figure 19 even those developers that have divested much of their equity position still retain shares in the project companies as their track record and expertise to drive increased performance out of the asset is not yet available within the newer entrants.

0

1,993 3,091

1,139

1,234

125

UK big six intergrated suppliers

Other energy companies

OEM/ EPC

828 Infrastructure fund/Institutional/ Sovereign

Figure 19: Owners of operating offshore wind farms in the UK as at Dec 2015 q Project

q Company (Share ownership)

q Project

q Company (Share ownership)

Blyth Offshore

E.ON (100%)

Gwynt y Môr

North Hoyle

RWE (33.33%); JP Morgan Asset Mgmt (33.33%); M&G Investments (33.33%)

Siemens (10%); Stadtwerke München (30%); RWE (50%); UK GIB (10%)

Humber Gateway E.ON (100%)

Scroby Sands

E.ON (100%)

Lincs

Kentish Flats

Vattenfall (100%)

Centrica (50%); DONG Energy (25%); Siemens (25%)

Barrow

DONG Energy (100%)

London Array

DONG Energy (25%); Caisse dépôt & placement Québec (25%); E.ON (30%); Masdar (20%)

Sheringham Shoal

Statkraft (40%); UK GIB Off Wind Fund (20%); Statoil (40%)

Gunfleet Sands I Marubeni Corporation (24.95%); Dev Bank of Japan (24.95%); DONG Energy (50.10%) Inner Dowsing

UK GIB Off Wind Fund (61%); BlackRock (39%)

Thanet

Vattenfall (100%)

Lynn

UK GIB Off Wind Fund (61%); BlackRock (39%)

Walney 1

DONG Energy (50.10%); SSE (25.10%); PGGM & Ampère Equity Fund (24.80%)

Rhyl Flats

RWE (50.10%); Greencoat UK Wind (24.95%); UK GIB Off Wind Fund (24.95%)

Walney 2

DONG Energy (50.10%); SSE (25.10%); PGGM & Ampère Equity Fund (24.80%)

Burbo Bank

DONG Energy (100%)

West Duddon

Solway Firth/ Robin Rigg East

E.ON (100%)

DONG Energy (50%); Iberdrola (ScottishPower) (50%)

Westermost Rough

DONG Energy (50%); Marubeni Corporation (25%); UK GIB (25%)

Kentish Flats extension

Vattenfall (100%)

Gunfleet Sands Demonstration

DONG Energy (100%)

Greater Gabbard RWE (50.00%); SSE (50%) Gunfleet Sands II Marubeni Corporation (24.95%); Dev Bank of Japan (24.95%); DONG Energy (50.10%)

Levenmouth demonstration turbine (Methil)

ORE Catapult (100%)

Solway Firth/ E.ON (100%) Robin Rigg West Teesside

Vattenfall (51%); AMF (49%)

Ormonde

Vattenfall (100%)

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7,000+ The UK Offshore Wind Resource Dataset (Wind Atlas) was the top download from the Marine Data Exchange (www.marinedataexchange.co.uk), which had over 7,000 downloads in 2015

Knowledge

O&M Forum Bringing the key players in the offshore wind industry together regularly to identify common challenges and share knowledge and experience is paying off. The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has been facilitating a regular meeting of leading offshore wind O&M practitioners for over 2 years. The Operations and Maintenance forum has been supported by all UK Offshore Wind Owner Operators and has enabled a strong community to develop. The O&M Forum is designed to support both formal and informal knowledge sharing between the participants; through this mechanism members are able to discuss long term common challenges as well as highlighting emergent issues and sharing experience on how to most efficiently and effectively develop appropriate solutions. This informal knowledge sharing has encompasses

Energy Institute Knowledge Service In a unique collaboration with the Energy Institute (EI), The Crown Estate has brought together over 100 reports and publications, produced as part of its strategic offshore wind programme, and made them more widely available through the Energy Institute Knowledge Service. This significant range of publications, developed over the last five years, aims to help mitigate, reduce, and manage risks and costs for the offshore wind sector. The EI Knowledge Service is an established online resource covering a number of energy sectors, including offshore wind. This collection has been categorised into eleven different themes covering areas such as asset management, health and safety, cost reduction, planning and consenting etc. The Crown Estate’s offshore wind portfolio is available free of charge to the public, as is access to a significant proportion of the EI’s accompanying material.

Industry Resources safety, technical, commercial and organisational issues within the group. Members have reported genuine short and long term benefit from the free exchange of information. The longer term challenges identified collectively by the group have been crucial in shaping the strategy of ORE Catapult and developing innovation and research programmes. ORE Catapult have used this group of informed active stakeholders to help structure a number of projects designed to support and coordinate efforts to address the challenges such as the Blade Leading Edge Erosion Programme (BLEEP). This is looking to improve understanding and develop better solutions for leading edge erosion on offshore wind turbine blades through funded research, joint industry activity and SME engagement to develop new improved products.

A number of products designed to inform and provide up to date information on the characteristics of the offshore environment were released by The Crown Estate in 2015. Revised Wind Atlas A comprehensive downloadable data set of offshore wind speeds compiled by the Met Office using Euro 4 and UKV hindcast models and validated against many of the UKs offshore wind meteorological masts: http://www.thecrownestate. co.uk/media/476246/ei-uk-offshore-wind-resourcedataset-2015-mde.pdf

Offshore Geoindex In collaboration with British Geological Survey we have published the results of a UK-wide seabed constraints analysis summarised in new geological factor maps. These provide for example key characteristics of the bedrock and overlying Quaternary deposits out to 200 nm and may be accessed at: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/ marine/seabedGeologicalConstraints.html

Windfarms and Fishing Working with the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO), a study was made of the impact on fishing activity in in the Eastern Irish Sea area from six co-located offshore wind farms Initial findings suggest that whilst fishing activity in the area and associated landings have reduced since 2000, this is primarily because of factors such as changes in the Total Allowable Catch (TAC). Dissemination of all the findings at RenewableUK’s Global Offshore Wind 2015 conference and with input from the Fishing Liaison with Offshore Wind and Wet Renewables Group (FLOWW) a stage 2 study was commissioned to examine similar issues in the Greater Thames and Wash areas. The report from the second phase is due to be published in late 2016. http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/media/502008/ ei-changes-to-fishing-practices-around-the-uk-as-aresult-of-the-development-of-offshore-windfarms.pdf

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COURTESY OF AREVA

Aviation The Crown Estate continues to play a proactive role in working with aviation stakeholders, principally through co-chairing of the now well established Offshore Renewables Aviation Forum (ORAF). The ORAF has grown significantly over the course of 2015 to reflect the increased interest for the potential use of helicopters to service offshore renewables. Principally this is being driven forward as more projects prepare their strategies for construction and O&M operations further offshore. In addition to supporting operational activity, there are search and rescue (SAR) considerations that have needed to be addressed. Furthermore, the interface with the oil and gas industry has been substantially improved as the two industries look to interface and collaborate more in sharing information and experiences in aviation services Looking ahead, with the focus of the industry changing to asset management, projects 18 |  Offshore wind – operational report

growing in scale and SAR/emergency operations being a crucial part of the ongoing well being of the industry, there is a continual need for industry engagement between developers and stakeholders to build a consistent coherent framework for developing safe aviation services. The Crown Estate has therefore been working in collaboration with Renewable UK and industry to develop the Offshore Renewable Aviation Guidance (ORAG) document which is due to be published in the summer of 2016. The document will offer high level guidance and provide a framework for the renewables industry. This will enable forward planning in order to address both strategic and operational issues around aviation support services and enable effective engagement with stakeholders to address any broader policy, regulatory, safety and technical matters, as well as project level issues.

Offshore wind on the go Monitoring the UKs offshore wind portfolio performance just got easier with a web resource designed to show the estimated total electricity being generated by offshore wind around the UK. Updated hourly, the individual contribution from each wind farm as well as the total for the UK can be displayed. Go to: http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/energy-mineralsand-infrastructure/offshore-wind-energy/offshore-windelectricity-map/

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thecrownestate.co.uk/energyminerals-and-infrastructure/ offshore-wind-energy @TheCrownEstate Correct as of March 2016, unless otherwise stated.